


One More Chance

by Full_Moon_Lover



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Breaking Up & Making Up, M/M, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-22
Updated: 2015-01-22
Packaged: 2018-03-08 16:05:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3215213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Full_Moon_Lover/pseuds/Full_Moon_Lover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'Louis and Harry have an argument, and it isn't until later that Louis realises he's been a complete tosser. He definitely intends on making it up to Harry.'</p>
<p>Harry feels like Louis is spending too much time at work and they're barely spending any time together. As much as he wishes that he could talk to Louis about it, he knows just how much his work meant to Louis and he didn't want to get in the way of that. Things come to a head though when Louis forgets their anniversary and Harry isn't so sure that he can go on like this anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One More Chance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [louissass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/louissass/gifts).



> I'm actually quite proud of this story since it's been a while since I've written anything resembling fanfiction. I've been working on it for a lot more than I would have liked since I'm slowly becoming the queen of procrastination but I guess it was worth the wait. 
> 
> Anyways, I'll shut up now and let you all get back to reading. Enjoy!

Harry, I'm home!"

The sound of the door closing and of footsteps could be heard throughout the whole apartment. Usually those two sounds never failed to make his day better but, today, it only made Harry grit his teeth. He finished throwing away the last of the food he had cooked for the occasion and tried preparing himself to face Louis.

He tensed up when he felt arms wrap around his waist and tried to move away without making it too obvious. It didn't seem to work though since Louis was frowning once he turned around to look at him. Harry bit his lip, unsure on how he felt. On one hand, he always hated when Louis was hurt but, on the other hand, he was furious with the other boy for forgetting such an important occasion.

"What's wrong Haz?" Louis asked, furrowing his eyebrows. He had felt Harry tensing up against him and realised that something was wrong but his suspicions were only further confirmed when Harry pulled away from him. It was something that rarely happened and, when it did, Louis was smart enough to realise that something was going on.

Harry laughed humourlessly when he heard Louis' question. "Where were you today? I wasn't expecting you home so late."

Louis relaxed at that, thinking that things weren't as bad as he had initially thought. "I went out for a drink with some friends after work. I'm sorry I didn't call but I didn't realise it had gotten so late." He moved in to wrap his hands around Harry's waist again but the other boy surprised him by moving away from him again. "What the hell is wrong now Harry?" he said, getting annoyed.

That seemed like the wrong thing to say because Harry gave up all pretences of being calm and slammed his hand against the table, all while glaring at Louis. "What's wrong is that I spent hours cleaning the whole apartment and cooking everything from scratch for our anniversary dinner so that everything could be perfect and you didn't even bother to show up or at least warn me that you're going to be late. Of course not, you were too busy having a drink with your friends."

Louis winced at hearing Harry raise his voice like that and he only felt worse when he realised that he had forgotten their six year anniversary since they first met. He wasn't sure what would make Harry the angriest, thinking he had gone drinking knowing it was their anniversary or knowing that Louis had forgotten all about it. Neither one seemed like a very good option.

Louis was left with no choice though when Harry shook his head, a hurt look on his face, then turned around and started washing the plates. "You forgot didn't you?" he murmured, fighting not to let his voice break and avoiding looking at Louis.

Louis had never hated himself as much as he did when he heard Harry's hurt voice. "Baby I'm sorry, you know I would never do that on purpose", he said, moving closer to Harry.

Harry washed the last plate then dried his hands. "I'm going up to bed. I had a very tiring day and now I'm getting a headache. You're not welcome to join me", he said and was out of the kitchen before Louis could even think about protesting.

Needing to feel at least a little bit useful as well as wanting to give Harry some time alone, Louis started drying up the plates that Harry had washed and placing them in their cupboards. He used some paper towels to wipe the table and sighed when he saw all the food thrown away in the bin. Once he was done, he walked to their room, intending on talking to Harry and apologise.

What he found waiting for him was a locked bedroom door and a pillow and blanket on the floor. He tried knocking on the door but all the response he got from Harry was a "Get out!" and he realised that it was a lost case. It was going to be a long night on the sofa for him.

*Louis woke up at eight in the morning after barely having slept all night. He groaned, moving around on the sofa in the hopes of finding a comfortable position. It wasn't long until he finally gave up and threw the blanket off of him. He was hoping that now that Harry had gotten to sleep on it, he would be more willing to hear him out. Not that he really knew what he was going to say. Forgetting their anniversary and going out for a drink with friends instead had been a low blow and Louis still wasn't sure how he was going to make it up to Harry.

With a sigh, he got up and made his way to their room and knocked, waiting for Harry to call out for him to come in. When a reply still hadn't come after a few seconds, Louis knocked again thinking that Harry was still asleep and hadn't heard him. Louis started getting worried when he, once again, got no answer from Harry. Opening the door, he walked in and took a look around the room.

Louis froze when he saw the closet doors wide open with most of Harry's clothes missing and, most importantly, no Harry to be seen. He checked the adjacent bathroom just to make sure that Harry really wasn't there but it was almost unnecessary since Louis already knew the truth. Harry was gone and he had no idea where.

He quickly got his phone and called Harry but it went straight to voicemail. It was obvious that Harry was ignoring his calls, having no intention of talking to him. He tried calling once again, with the same result. Finally he decided to try and call a few of their mutual friends in the hope that they knew something more about Harry's sudden disappearance. He knew that Harry had been upset over him forgetting their anniversary but Louis had never imagined that he would just leave without a word.

The first person Louis called was Niall who was not very happy about being woken up so early in the morning and who hadn't heard from Harry since the other boy had asked him to help in getting their anniversary dinner ready. Louis hung up, heart feeling heavy with guilt over the knowledge that Harry had gone through so much trouble to make sure the night was perfect and Louis had ruined everything.

Zayn and Liam didn't have any news for him either and Louis was slowly giving up on finding out where Harry was until the other boy either showed up or at least called him. It wasn't until he was making himself some tea that Louis remembered Harry's good friend Ed. Ed had stayed at their place for a few days while he had been looking for a place of his own and Louis knew that if Harry had to go stay with anyone, it would be him. He quickly picked up his phone again and pressed on Ed's name with shaking fingers.

He let out a sigh of relief when he heard Ed's quiet voice through the phone. "Hey Louis, I was hoping you'd figure it out eventually", he said and Louis was sure that Ed had a small smile on his face. As glad as he was that Ed had picked his phone, Louis couldn't help but frown at hearing the other boy almost taking it lightly.

"Harry's with you, I know he is. You have to convince him to talk to me or I'm coming to your place to talk to him myself. He can't just leave like that without even giving me the chance to talk about it. I know he's upset and he has every right to be but he needs to give me the chance to at least apologise", he said, desperately hoping that Ed would understand.

"This isn't just about forgetting an anniversary Lou." Louis gasped, not having realised that Ed had passed over the phone to Harry.

"It hurt that you forgot but I wouldn't have left over that. I just...I can't take it anymore Louis. You're obsessed with your job. Don't try to deny it, you know it's true. You spend whole nights in the office and on the rare occasion that I convince you to come home early you're always irritable. It was getting so hard Louis. It's like I always have to walk on egg shells with you and I just can't live like that anymore." By the end of his little speech, Louis could tell that Harry was getting choked up. It broke his heart to hear Harry's hurt voice, especially knowing that he was the reason.

Louis knew that he had been getting more immersed in his work lately; he wasn't going to deny that. He just hadn't realised that it had gotten so bad that it was affecting Harry as well. He tried to think back to the last time that he had taken a day off from work or left early and winced when he realised that he couldn't even remember the last time he had done this. Just as he was getting ready to apologise once again, he was interrupted by Harry.

"I think we should take a little break. I love you Lou, I really do, but I'm not sure that's really enough anymore", he heard Harry's voice say through the phone. Louis felt his blood run cold over hearing those words. He couldn't lose Harry, he just couldn't. Harry hung up before he could say anything else, with a final 'I love you'.

Louis lost count of the amount of time he spent just staring at the phone, trying to come to terms with what had happened. He couldn't bring himself to believe that Harry had just broken up with him. Sure, he hadn't said those exact words, preferring to call it a break, but Louis wasn't a fool. He knew what Harry had meant by that. What made it even worse was the knowledge that it was his fault.

A part of him knew that he should have seen it coming. He knew that it had been unfair of him to expect that Harry would stay no matter what, even if that meant that he's have to spend night after night in bed alone and get only a few hours a week with his boyfriend. Louis knew that he should have realised all that before, yet he hadn't and now he was alone.

He couldn't imagine a life without Harry. Who was going to put up with all of his little quirks but love him anyway? Who was he going to look forward to coming home to after a long day of work? There was no one like Harry.

He couldn't just admit defeat and sit around without doing anything. He had to at least try to convince Harry to give him another chance. He still had absolutely no idea on how he was going to do that but he was determined to give it his best shot. He couldn't lose Harry, he just couldn't.

*

"That's not what I was looking for", he muttered, a frown on his face. It had been an hour and Louis was slowly getting tired of looking at engagement rings.

Both Zayn and his mother told him that he was thinking big and that this wasn't the way to convince Harry to give him another chance. No one knew Harry better than he did though and he knew that if he was ever going to win Harry back, this was how.

And that's how he found himself at a jewellery shop, being shown engagement rings after engagement ring. He had lost count of how many rings he had been shown and yet he still hadn't found the one that would be perfect for Harry. They were all either too simple or too farfetched. He wanted something that matched Harry and a ring with a diamond the size of his nail wasn't going to cut it.

Louis was just about to give up and leave the ring hunting for another day when the sales man finally came out with a ring that had Louis standing up a little straighter. Finally, the perfect ring. It reminded him of Harry the moment that he caught sight of it and that is when he knew that he just had to have it. It was a simple white hold band with three tiny diamonds embedded in it. Nothing fussy, but not too simple.

He took it in his hand to have a closer look at it, even though his mind was already made up. The more he looked at it, the more he was convinced. With a bright smile on his face, he turned to look at the sales man. "I'll take this one", he said, feeling as if he could really do this. He could really convince Harry to take him back and give him another chance.

*

Louis parked his car and turned it off. He stared out of the window, looking at the house in front of him. His plan had seemed much easier a few days ago, when all he had to do was to go out and buy the ring. Now that it was time to do the rest, he wasn't sure whether he was ever going to feel ready to get out of the car and knock on the door.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and got out of the car. This was the only chance he had to make it up to Harry and fix what he had messed up in the first place. He wasn't going to ruin it, not if he could help it. He put a hand in his pants' pocket and grabbed a hold of the ring box. Louis had lost count of how many times he had done this since he got out of his...their...house. The whole thing still felt a little surreal to him.

Louis bit his lip and finally got enough courage to knock on the door. A part of him wanted Harry to open it so that he wouldn't have the chance to rethink everything but at the same time he was scared that Harry would just shut the door in his face once he saw who it was. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Harry was the one who opened the door.

The look on his face could be described as a mix between complete shock as well as hopefulness. Maybe Louis really did have a chance after all. He just had to prove it to Harry as well. "Hey", he finally settled on saying.

Louis was having a little trouble finding the right words to say. It had been a week since he last saw Harry and he could safely say that he had never gone so long without seeing Harry, even if it was while the other boy was sleeping. Guilt started creeping up on him again when he realised that he had forced Harry to do just that every time he got home once Harry was already fast asleep and left early in the morning, before the other boy had even woken up.

As much as he hated to admit it, he had taken Harry for granted and expected him to always be there, no matter what. The truth is that he couldn't have expected Harry to stay when he was giving nothing in return except for pain and loneliness. That wasn't the way that a relationship was supposed to be.

Realising that Harry wasn't going to say anything, Louis cleared his throat a little awkwardly and fidgeted around with his hands, trying to find the right words to start with. "I'm here to ask you- wait that comes later. I want you to think about...no not that." Louis could feel himself start to panic, knowing that he was already messing it up and he had barely even started.

With his growing panic, Louis didn't notice the small smile growing on Harry's face. As much as Harry wished that he could stay angry at Louis and yell at him for all the lonely nights that he had spent and all the times he had felt as if he wasn't important enough, he just couldn't. Deep down, he knew that Louis loved him more than anything, even though he could be quite terrible at showing it. Harry had no intention of making this easy for Louis though. He was not going to go back to how things were before because that would just mean going back to lonely nights, empty beds and forgotten anniversaries. No. Harry would stay strong unless something changed.

While Harry was trying to strengthen his resolve and hide the small smile on his face, Louis was trying his best to get his thoughts back under control in order to be able to explain to Harry what he had been trying to say. "I'm sorry", he finally settled on. "Not just for my earlier rambling, even though I'm sorry for that too. I took you for granted, I can admit that now. I thought that you would always be there and I didn't even realise that I was pushing you away with my actions until you felt that the only option you had left was to leave.”

Louis stopped for a few seconds to let Harry digest what he had just said as well as to try and gauge out his reaction. Unfortunately for Louis, Harry seemed to have learned how to keep his face blank in the few days that he had been away so Louis couldn't tell what the other boy was feeling.

"I'm sorry for all the lonely nights that you had to spend. All the times that I got home from work so late that you'd already be asleep on the sofa, even though you always tried hard to stay awake until I arrived. I'm sorry for all the times that I promised to be home for dinner but cancelled at the last minute and I'm sorry for forgetting our anniversary and going out for drinks with friends instead of coming home to you on the one time I left work early. I just...thank you for sticking around for as long as you did even though I never showed you just how much I appreciated you. But most of all, thank you for loving me", Louis finished with, trying hard to get through his whole speech without crying.

Harry was biting his lip, trying to keep in the sob that was threatening to come out. He didn't want to cry in front of Louis, even though no one could really blame him after what he had just said. He had no words to say to Louis and so he just pulled the other boy in and kissed him softly, wrapping his arms around Louis' neck.

Louis gladly kissed Harry back, feeling relieved that at least Harry had heard him out and didn't seem to be very angry at him anymore. "I love you", he mumbled against Harry's lips once they pulled away from the kiss. He smiled when he both heard and felt Harry chuckling. Home. He was finally back home in Harry's arms.

Moving back, Louis took a deep breath and got ready to do what he had planned to do. He got the ring box from out of his pocket and got down on one knee, smiling slightly when he heard Harry gasp above him. He looked up at the other boy and opened the ring box, presenting it to Harry. "I know I don't deserve it after the way that I treated you but I love you and I'm willing to make changes to show you just how much I want you in my life. I'm cutting down on the amount of hours I spend at the office. The company can survive without me but I have someone I love very much to spend time with at home, if you agree to come back. So here I am, asking you to give me a second chance. And asking you...will you make me the happiest man alive by marrying me?"

He needn't have doubted Harry's response for a second because it wasn't long until he found himself with Harry in his arms, hugging him and shouting "Yes!" in his ear.

It was going to take some time until they got over this and even more time until they were ready to actually get married but, for now, the promise of what was to come was enough for the both of them.

*

Two years later...

Louis was looking in the mirror and trying to adjust his bowtie with shaking fingers. Thankfully, his mum stopped him from making an even bigger mess of things and moved his hands away, tying his bowtie neatly herself. "I can't believe my baby is getting married today", she said, her eyes glistening with tears.

Louis would usually try to make light of the situation by cracking a joke or rolling his eyes but he couldn't find it in himself to that today. The truth is, that he could barely believe it himself that he was about to get married after an engagement of two years. They were two tough years with a fair number of fights but the good memories more than overruled the bad ones.

It took some time for things to start getting better once Harry moved back with Louis and gave him a second chance. Louis couldn't get used to staying at his office for shorter hours and that lead into fights over how many hours was appropriate and how many were going too far. It also took a while to understand that work was a very big part of Louis' life and that things between them weren't going to work out if he didn't learn to accept that just because Louis sometimes came at home late, skipping dinner and finding Harry already asleep, didn't mean he appreciated him any less.

In the end, they learned to compromise and slowly, but surely, they managed to get to where they are today. Ready to get married and feeling more in love than ever.

Waiting for Harry to come out and walk towards him was torture for Louis and, by the time Harry actually arrived, Louis had turned into a nervous wreck. He decided it was all worth it when he got to see the excitement and joy on Harry's face up close. There was nothing more special than the moment when they looked into each other's eyes and said their heartfelt vows to each other and nothing more beautiful than the time when they finally got to share their first kiss as husbands.

Both Louis and Harry were positive that it had been a while since they laughed as much as they did as they were sharing their first dance together. Especially since Louis decided there was no better time to try out a new dance move that he came up with and ended up with both of them on the floor. “I don’t think you should consider dancing as a career choice”, Harry teased a small smile on his face. Louis just chuckled, shaking his head and helping Harry up.

At the end of the day, all of their guests gathered around to watch as Louis and Harry got into the car that was about to take them to the airport where they would get on the plane to take them to Venice. They departed to the cheers of all of their loved ones and with wide smiles on both of their faces.

It took a long time to get to where they are. There were ups and there were definitely downs but knowing that they got through them all, makes their love for each other feel that much stronger. They could deal with whatever else could come their way and both Harry and Louis knew that they'd come out strong.


End file.
